Living in Community

Hey everyone!

So, tonight I am sleeping in my own apartment for the first time ever!- sort of!

For the months of May and June I will be living in intentional Christian community with a bunch of really cool people from Emmaus Anglican Church! For the last two years, a group of about six young adults from our congregation have been living together in community in Pointe St-Charles, a poorer area of Montreal, with the goal of growing together in their faith and reaching out to the people in that neighborhood. I am super excited to be living with them for the next two months as a member of their community!

I don't have a whole lot to say right now, but I felt I should keep in tradition and write something on a Monday night, and figured this was as good a thing to write about as any! So, I will end this here for now but you can rest assured that as I adjust to the madness of morning prayers and community dinners and independence from my parents I will have lots of things to talk about and lots of prayers to request!

For those of you who feel so inclined, here is how you can pray for me this week:
- Pray that I can easily make the switch between living at home with my parents and living at home with my friends
- Pray that I can adjust to the new lifestyle that comes with living on my own
- Pray that I am able to build tighter relationships with the people I'm living with
- Pray especially that God uses this to stretch me and bring me closer to Him!

Blessings,

Touch the Leper

I've been thinking a lot recently about social justice- oppressed people groups, equality, and all that jazz. It occurs to me that, as a Christian, it's my duty to show love to people, especially people who are marginalized and really need it.

This post is inspired at least a little by conversations I've had over the last few days, and by Keith Ganzer's sermon preached this morning at Emmaus Anglican Church.

In Jesus' day, people with leprosy had it really rough. They were outcast from society because of their condition- not only because it was contagious, but also because they believed it was caused by their sins. If you had leprosy, you had to walk around shouting "Unclean! Unclean!" so that people would know to keep their distance. You were literally as far removed and ostracised as you possibly could be.

When I try to think about what the modern equivalent of a leper would be- that is, a people group that is marginalized and gets a lot of hate- the first groups that come to mind are the homeless and the gay community. Too many people in the world have negative attitudes toward homeless people, and homosexuals get treated poorly all over the world (granted, less in recent years than before, but still more than they should)

Speaking on a more confessional, personal level, I think I've definitely been guilty of not showing enough love to these two groups- and maybe that's why I'm focusing on them tonight. I've always claimed to have compassion for the homeless, and yet I never make any effort to make them feel loved. I've always claimed to love homosexuals (because their sin is really no worse than mine) but I've never made an effort to reach out to them or support them in any way. I've been pretty lousy at showing love to these two groups, and Christ's example shows us that we need to reach out to the world's pariahs.

In Luke 5:13, Jesus "reaches out and touches" a man "full of leprosy" and heals him. Keith pointed out this morning that Jesus really didn't need to touch the leper to heal him. There's instances where He simply says the word and people are healed and get up and walk. Jesus touches the leper to show compassion and love to this poor outcast. He doesn't just heal the leper- he forgives him, and shows that by His actions! Similarly, we as Christians need to reach out and touch the marginalized people in our society!

In May and June, I will be living in community with a few other members of Emmaus Anglican Church- one of whom is currently homeless, and is super excited to be moving into an apartment with Christian roommates who can help support him in prayer and help him get back on track with things! This guy is super cool, and we've had a lot of good conversations, and yet I know that in my heart there's still some kind of barrier there, so I am excited to see how God uses this to grow me in my ability to feel compassion to people who are different from me, and to reach out to them in love!

All this being said, I'm pretty tired and have to be functional tomorrow- I am taking a three day trip to Ottawa this week, and have to cram 5 days of work into 2 days. Should be fun.

Blessings,

The Bible in a Year: Week 12 (Thoughts on Synod)

So, as you have probably figured out, I'm reading through the entire Bible this year!

If you are at all interested in doing the same, I'd like to recommend the ESV study plans, as I am currently using their "Every Day in the Word" plan for my daily readings. I'm a couple of days behind (March 23rd right now) but it's going fairly well!

I am very excited to announce that yesterday, at our Annual Vestry Meeting, I was elected to be the Youth Delegate for Emmaus Anglican Church at this year's Synod! I feel honored and privileged to be chosen for this job, and look forward to taking lots of photos this November when the event is taking place.

I've always been kind of hesitant to get involved in any kind of church politics. Perhaps this aversion was partly due to my aversion to politics in general, but it seems more likely that I just didn't think of the church as a place that should be governed by any kind of meetings or structure. Of course I now realize that's crazy, but hey, we're all young and ignorant at some point or another. When I was asked to let my nomination stand for this year's election, I was initially hesitant, but mostly because I wanted to give the opportunity to somebody else. They turned down their nomination though, so I let mine stand, and I'm pretty glad I did! I think it's going to be a rewarding experience, and it should open my eyes to things I have been otherwise unaware of about the workings of our diocese. Plus, it's a trip to Ottawa for a weekend, with my pastor and two or three other people, so it should just also be a lot of fun!

Well, I'm pretty exhausted from a super long weekend and too much walking, so I'm going to call it quits and watch some mind-numbing television for a few hours, eat some bad food, and pass out.

Cheers,

Annual Ministry Report

Hey everyone!

So, this week I sat down with Angela Henderson, my co-coordinator for youth ministry at Emmaus Anglican Church, to write our annual report. I figured, since I haven't had a lot of time to actually write any new posts in awhile, and so many of you out there are praying for us and our ministry, it would be a cool idea if I shared that report here!


At our June 2011 Retreat, we encouraged the teens to spend more time in community, living as the Body of Christ, pointing them toward the Christian life examined in the early church in the book of Acts. This summer was a time spent building community with one another in intentional ways. Coming off of this, our year started with a close group of teens who were very excited to get back into things and to welcome the new members of our group!

Our objective going into this year was to help the teens realize how God sees them, how to be a Christian in everyday life, and why that’s good and exciting! To do this, we started with an overview of what it means to be a Christian. We then discussed our identity in Christ, why we pray, why we memorize Scripture, how to glean from a sermon, what a testimony is, how to write a testimony, and why we serve one another.

After this, we asked the teens what topics they were interested in covering for the rest of the year. The topic we started with was being content with where we’re at in life, specifically with regards to singleness (a huge concern among high school students). After this, we had our Winter Retreat. God blessed us immensely by leading us to use The Friendly Home after our location cancelled, and we had a really good turnout. We discussed spiritual gifts, with the main focus of the weekend being “Value and Self-Confidence.” The teens went away encouraged and closer to one another and God than ever before.

Some other special evenings we had this year were a costume party at Hallowe’en, a Christmas party and a Q&A night with Keith which was enjoyed a great deal by both Keith and the teens!

Plans for March-June

Please be praying for the upcoming months as we have some serious as well as fun things planned. One topic that many teens have asked about is homosexuality. We will be taking 2 weeks to discuss it in April. We also have guest speakers, the 30 Hr Famine, a possible retreat at Rivercross Farm, a leaders’ retreat and our annual summer retreat in June. When we discussed the 30 Hr Famine with the teens, they decided that they wanted to support World Vision’s efforts to provide safety to children and teens being used as prostitutes and soldiers. They’re very excited for this event and we would encourage you to support them financially, if you can, and prayerfully the weekend of April 27-28!


Some Important Numbers!

7- Leaders currently serving on Friday nights!
5- Hours spent praying for and encouraging one another on our Winter Retreat!
11- Teens whose faiths were refreshed after our Winter Retreat!
1- Fence-sitting leader deciding to pursue a relationship with Christ!

On behalf of all the leaders,

Angela Henderson & Tom Zalatnai
Youth Ministry Co-Coordinators

Emmaus Youth Group Winter Retreat 2012

This weekend, we had our annual Winter Youth Retreat. It was a really amazing opportunity to remember how trustworthy God is and how reliable he is when it comes to providing for us. About a week ago we found out we had nowhere to host our retreat! It was a bit of a panic but we tried to keep a cool head and remember that God wouldn't let us down. And He definitely didn't!

We were blessed with the use of Isaiah 40, which is conveniently down the street from my house, has proper heating and tons of bathrooms. We managed to have a brilliant weekend there and were blessed with tons of space to use and a really comfortable environment. The Spirit moved in amazing ways, and we managed to have a bunch of fantastic discussions about Spiritual Gifts and our value in Christ. The teens all had an amazing time and the leaders did a great job.

I think the thing that stood out most about this weekend was the incredible sense of family. We had two teens with us who aren't regular members of the group and mostly just come out for special events like this one, but it really felt like they had been around forever, and that's such a beautiful dynamic. Everyone was in good spirits and getting along well, and it was just such a comfortable time for everyone. We spent probably about 5 hours praying for and encouraging everybody, one at a time, and I'm not ashamed to admit I cried at least 14 times during those prayer sessions! It was just so beautiful seeing God at work in our community.

Now I need to get some rest. Good night!

The Bible in a Year: My New Year's Resolution

Hey people,

Sorry, it's been awhile since my last post! Things have been busy the last couple of weeks and I haven't had a chance to just sit down and write for a little while. I guess that happens toward the end of the semester, though I can't really blame school, since I'm in a pretty easy program with minimal amounts of work and no final exams. But I digress!

I've been thinking a lot recently about the whole idea of a "New Year's Resolution." It's a strange concept to me, because it seems like there's two schools of thought about it: The first is that you use it to make yourself feel good for a couple of weeks, then fail to take it seriously and say "Oh well, next year." The second is that you use it as an excuse to do things you should be doing anyway. In the past, I've tried to get on board with the idea of giving something up or trying to do something new every year. I'm not sure if I'm inherently bad at that kind of intentionality or if I just didn't ever actually care.

This year, Keith suggested that the men of Emmaus Anglican Church commit to reading the Bible in a year. I've tried to do this in the past but went about it without a plan or any accountability, and usually just tried to go from start to finish. I think as great as Genesis is, trying to read like five chapters of it a night tends to get old really quickly, and starts to feel like a chore. So I never really got past a week or two of reading. This time around I'll be using the ESV Bible in a year daily plan, meeting up once a month with Keith and the others, and fully committing to it.

I think there's a definite value to this exercise. Reading Scriptures in this way is a great way to saturate our minds with the Word of God, and having a good knowledge of this stuff is important for all believers, especially those involved in ministry. So I'm pretty excited! And I want to encourage any readers out there to check out the ESV (that's English Standard Version) website and look into doing the same!

Yours in Christ,

Tom

Ave Maria

Hey guys,

So this morning I was listening to Ave Maria on Josh Groban's "Noel" album. Super amazing, obviously. But it got me thinking about the lyrics. I don't speak Latin, but I understand some of the words in there, and was reflecting on them this morning before the service at Emmaus. Words that pop up in there, apart from the titular 'Hail Mary,' are gratia, dominus and benedictus. Gratia is a word that provides the root for English words like grace and gratitude. Dominus tends to refer to someone in authority, a position or power (such as a Lord or clergyman). Benedictus has to do with blessings. After googling the meaning of the lyrics, I realized this song is, in some part, a prayer thanking God for the blessing and grace He poured out over Mary.

That being said, it was a really neat parallel when Keith Ganzer started his sermon this morning, found here on the Emmaus website, and, continuing his series on the Gospel of Luke, talked about the passage where Mary learns of her pregnancy. Sort of the main point of his sermon was focused around the fact that Mary was probably like 12 years old, and had such an incredible faith and commitment to God's will for her life. He emphasized the fact that it's really unfortunate that in this day and age, people seem to take a stance when it comes to young people that none of them are mature, that none of them can have truly strong relationships with God, and that none of them can commit their lives to Him until they're much older. And he used this message as a way of encouraging our congregation to encourage the kids and teens to step out in their faith and give themselves to God in powerful ways. We're obviously not asking them to get pregnant with His incarnate Son or anything, since Mary did that already, but we're asking them to show that same kind of faith and devotion.

So, while meditating on this sermon, I realized just how powerful this message is to anyone involved in Youth & Childrens' ministries. Sometimes- and I'm willing to admit I often fall into this- it's too easy to expect little of young people, because we live in a society where we don't trust them to drive a car until they're a certain age, and sometimes we don't even trust them to work until they're "old enough." But one thing we can't allow ourselves to fall into is the thought that because somebody is young, they aren't capable of committing their lives to the Lord. And it seems ridiculous to me that I would have trouble with this myself, given that I'm a pretty decent example of one of those young people who *does* sacrifice themself for His Kingdom.

So, I pray for myself, and for other youth ministers, that we would be able to encourage our students to be more like Mary in their selfless faith and willingness to commit to God's cause. I also pray that we wouldn't be blind to the truth that they're capable of this!

So, thank you, Mary, for being such a poignant reminder that young people are capable of demonstrating fantastic faith in huge situations.

Prayerfully yours,

Tom

Emmaus Website!

Hey Blogland!

It is with great excitement that I post today about the new website for Emmaus Anglican Church!

Our church has been meeting for a few years now and it seems like this is a big year for big stuff- we finally got a rector in Keith Ganzer, an awesome guy from Vancouver BC (represent!), and now we have a website! We're also slowly upgrading to wireless audio technology, despite some minor setbacks...

Anyways, the page I'd like to point out here is the Youth page, for the obvious reason that our youth group is really awesome and we start up this Friday night! You can find that page here! I am so stoked at the opportunity the website brings to us to sort of archive our teachings and series and whatnot! So definitely keep checking back there in the weeks to come, and keep checking back here as I will be posting a lot more this month than I did in August (sorry about that) and most of it will be really awesome, I hope.

Blessings!